A new biography, titled Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader by Joe Hilley (Zondervan 2008), will explore themes from her career in politics, her life as a hockey mom, and her strongly held Christian faith, explaining how they influence her new style of leadership and align with our changing economy in the information age. The book is scheduled for release nationwide on October 10, 2008.... Read More
Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw, and the Psalters kicked off the Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals tour this past Monday night in Grand Rapids! The tour will run through July 26 - click here to see if the tour is coming to a city near you.
Grand Rapids Press ran an article about the tour kick-off at this link. A live blog posting about this tour stop is at this link.
Kay Warren, author of Dangerous Surrender: What Happens When You Say Yes to God, will be leading a free live Internet chat tomorrow, Friday, June 6th, from 1:00-2:00pm EST. Visit Kay's website for more details on how to participate at: www.kaywarren.com
Last night author Laura Jensen Walker gave her book club autographed copies of her upcoming release, Daring Chloe: A Getaway Girls Novel, which she dedicated to her book club! Nine women gathered for their regular book club meeting and to hear Laura speak about her new book. Here is a synposis of the book:
When Chloe Adams’ fiancé dumps her—the night before their wedding—two girlfriends from her book group decide a little adventure is in order for the three of them. After all, why let a perfectly good honeymoon cruise go to waste?
Adventure? Chloe Adams? No way! Chloe’s lived in one town her whole life. The closest she’s ever gotten to actual adventures is reading about them. But her girlfriends won’t take no for an answer.
One good adventure calls for another as Chloe’s friends try to coax her out of her post-dumping funk, and soon she finds herself living out the adventures in her book club’s latest selections. Hiking. Sailing. River rafting. Traveling to new places and eating exotic food. The play-it-safe Chloe begins to blossom into a new, daring Chloe. A Chloe who just might be ready to take on her biggest adventure of all …
Laura Jensen Walker has a knack for quirky heroines and real-life humor. In Chloe, she’s created another memorable character who will live on in readers’ hearts. Click here to read a sample chapter: 
Below is a photo of Monday night's Book Ends book club:
Laura Jensen Walker (pictured above in the middle) is an award-winning writer and popular national speaker. Her previous novels include Miss Invisible, Dreaming in Black & White, and Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the first-ever Novel of the Year for Women of Faith® conferences. A former reporter with a degree in journalism, she is also the author of several non-fiction humor books. Laura lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband, Michael, and their piano-playing dog Gracie. Visit her website at www.laurajensenwalker.com.
"‘The Dude abides.’… I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners." — The Stranger, “The Big Lebowski”
Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen are the subject of a new book to be published by Zondervan and written by award-winning Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani.
Scheduled for release in Spring 2009, The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers will look at the filmmakers’ presentation of serious existential and theological questions using the dark, intelligent humor and epic storytelling that have been their trademarks in more than a dozen films during the past 25 years.
The Dude Abides will be a chronological examination of the Coen brothers’ oeuvre—every film they have directed together, as well as the films for which they have written original screenplays and those they have adapted from existing material. Falsani will investigate the theological, mythological, moral, ethical, religious and philosophical content and what their overarching message—their “Gospel”—might be.
Following the tradition of The Gospel According to the Simpsons, The Gospel According to Disney and The Gospel According to Oprah, The Dude Abides will turn a journalist’s eye on the Coen Brothers’ particular brand of popular culture to explore “the moral and existential questions and answers—God-stuff, really—put forth in scenarios and situations where some folks might say God isn’t supposed to show up,” Falsani says. “I see a large audience of avid fans who want to explore the transcendent depths of the Coens’ work, as well as those readers who are simply interested in the intersection between popular culture and spirituality.”
From their 1984 debut, “Blood Simple,” through their most recent work, “No Country for Old Men,” which recently was honored with 4 Oscars, each of the Coen Brothers’ films probes ethical and spiritual quandaries.
• “Blood Simple” is the story of a man with serious doubts, and what happens when he attempts to discover what the “truth” is.
• In “Barton Fink,” the title character, a successful New York playwright turned Hollywood screenwriter, mortgages his soul as he struggles with terminal writers block among the residents of, what may be, hell—fire, demons and all.
• “The Big Lebowski” chronicles the misadventures of the Dude—stoner, pacifist, philosopher —as he attempts to right some wrongs and vanquish the powers of nihilism and moral turpitude.
• “O Brother Where Art Thou” follows the odyssey (spiritual and otherwise) of three convicts, a skeptic searching for his way home and two seeking redemption from their sins.
• “No Country for Old Men” is an epic, prophetic journey that tackles one of theology’s most daunting conundrums, theodicy—if God is good then why doesn’t God intervene to stop unrelenting violence—and surmises that we don’t really know what God is thinking.
Cathleen Falsani is the Author of The God Factor and Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace. She is an award-winning religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. A graduate of Wheaton College, Falsani holds masters degrees in journalism and theology. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband and fellow journalist, Maurice Possley.
Join The Dude Abides Facebook Group.
In celebration of GMA Music Week, meet Zondervan author Michael Snyder this Monday, April 21, from 8:00am - 12:00pm at the Nashville Convention Center main entrance on 6th and Commerce streets. Michael (pictured above) and a team of bassett hounds will be handing out 1,700 free copies of his new Zondervan book My Name Is Russell Fink in front of a billboard featuring his book.
You can also meet Michael at a book signing at the Cool Springs Borders Store on Saturday, April 19, at 2:00pm in Franklin, TN.
Enjoy a fun question & answer session with Michael at this link.
Venus Chau is a high-powered video game developer. Now she might be working for the man she’s always hated … but what if he’s no longer the man she thought she knew?
Single Sashimi by Camy Tang is the third book in the Sushi series and offers romance with the spice of ginger. Look for this new book September 2008. In the meantime, we want to share with you a fun question and answer session we recently had with Camy:
Camy, what were the things you loved to do as a child?
Read! Whenever my mom had a haircut appointment, Dad would take us to a movie or shopping. When he took us to Ala Moana shopping center, we'd always go to the bookstore and he'd buy me a book!
What is the number one thing you love to do for fun now?
I've taken up knitting. (I used to play volleyball, but after tearing my ACL the second time, I said, no more!) I'm having a lot of fun making gifts for friends and relatives!
What are five things that you would rather not have to go through your day/week without?
1) tea (I'm addicted)
2) email (I'm shamefully addicted to that, too--probably because as a writer, I'm a bit isolated most of the time and email is my communication with other sane human beings.)
3) French fries (I try to have some at least once a week)
4) a book to read
5) some knitting to occupy me while I'm listening to an audio book or waiting for someone.
What is your favorite entertainment?
These days, my husband and I are watching TV together at night after dinner as our time together. Just one or two shows. It's a way for him to unwind and I get to talk to him during commercial breaks.
What is on your bookshelf?
Too many books to list here, but next on my TBR pile is: Amber Morn by Brandilyn Collins, Sincerely, Mayla by Virginia Smith, Shade by John Olson, Rain Song by Alice Wisler, and Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver.
If you had a "to do" list of thing you want to do in your lifetime, what are the top three things on your list?
1) Travel to Italy
2) Travel to Great Britain
3) Own an alpaca farm
Camy Tang grew up in Hawaii and worked for years as a biologist/researcher until she felt God’s call to return to the writing that she had loved as a student. She now writes "romance with a kick of wasabi" and, with her husband, is a staff worker with the youth group at her church. Visit her website at www.camytang.com.
Jim Cymbala has been the pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle for more than twenty-five years. He is also the author of the bestselling titles Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire; Fresh Faith; Fresh Power; Breakthrough Prayer; The Life God Blesses; The Church God Blesses; and The Promise of God’s Power. He lives in New York City with his wife, Carol Cymbala, who directs the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
Zondervan is publishing Jim Cymbala's newest book, You Were Made For More: The Life You Have, The Life God Wants You to Have, in September of 2008. The primary goal of this book is to help readers come to a deeper understanding of the nature and character of God and how God works in the lives of his followers. Christians face many barriers in their efforts to grow in their faith, many of which are “self-inflicted.” Some relate to God as a stern judge instead of as a loving Father. Some struggle with the idea that growing in faith entails doing more—more studying, more serving, more Bible reading—instead of being in a closer relationship with God and allowing him to do it.
Jim points out that God has made some pretty big promises to his children: a deeper sense of purpose, abiding joy in the face of life’s setbacks, freedom from the psychological and emotional issues that hold us back, and peace on the inside regardless of external circumstances. In You Were Made for More, Cymbala helps readers understand that these promises are real.
Anchoring his message in the Bible and personal experience, he includes stories of how people today are reaching for more of God and experiencing a greater sense of passion, peace and confidence in their personal lives.
Reminding us that we, too, have unique and fulfilling work assignments from God, he speaks to our need for lives rich in purpose and significance. Written in an encouraging and motivating style with plenty of examples of God’s faithfulness, You Were Made for More will inspire readers to reach for everything God has promised.
Enjoy this exclusive 38-minute video of Jim Cymbala speaking about You Were Made For More and his ministry at The Brooklyn Tabernacle:
Idols are good for two things: making us feel important and making us feel loved. But the idols keep crashing—even when the author turns to his own Christian faith to construct an identity that will give him the life he craves. Through a variety of experiences—sublime and wretched, ego-building and humbling, joyous and painful—he learns the difference between pursuing “holy hero status” and discovering the unpredictable and uncontrollable love of God.
Pete Gall, the author of My Beautiful Idol is on a quest to be successful—in a lucrative job at an advertising agency, in ministry work, even in his relationships. And in a futile attempt to control the sources of love and security, he has turned these things into idols he can keep in his soul's back pocket. He pulls the idols out when he feels vulnerable and defenseless, and hides them again when things are going well. But the idols keep failing—even when he turns to his own Christian faith.
In a creative narrative style rooted in raw honesty, My Beautiful Idol invites readers to identify with the young would-be Christian hero as he seeks God, and as he hides from God. Far from reducing complex matters to simplistic formulas, Pete Gall weaves together stories both sublime and wretched, ego-building and humbling, humorous and painful, and successfully celebrates the messiness of faith, the importance of validating truth, and the unscripted nature of experiencing a God who is intimately involved in all of life.
Read 12 pages of My Beautiful Idol at this link:
Pete Gall is a freelance copywriter, brand strategist, author, speaker, and passion-driven gadfly whose clients range from Fortune 50 corporations to national denominations, tech start-ups, nonprofit organizations, and local churches. Pete and his amazing wife, Christine, live in Indianapolis with their two dogs. Visit Pete's two websites at www.mybeautifulidol.com and www.petegall.com.
Join the My Beautiful Idol Facebook group at this link.
